Employees believe that the attractiveness of the healthcare, social welfare and early childhood education and care sectors will be further reduced if the legislative change to fixed-term contracts planned by PM Petteri Orpo (National Coalition Party) is implemented. The change would allow employers to offer new employees a one-year fixed-term contract without any justification. The change in the law would also turn employees' perceptions of employers more negative.
The results come from a survey of 2,553 people, carried out by the trade union for the healthcare, social welfare and early childhood education and care sectors, Tehy, in the summer of 2025.
Increasing fixed-term contracts would reduce the desire to work in these sectors for the vast majority and would also significantly increase the willingness to change careers. A clear majority of respondents, 87%, either fully or somewhat agree that if employers start to rely on fixed-term employees at the expense of permanent ones, the willingness to work in the positions existing today will decrease. 77% of respondents say they would be more willing to change careers if this were the case. 88% of respondents would feel more negatively about their employer.
Fixed-term contracts are a burden on the sectors; pregnancy discrimination exists
The responses to the survey reveal that a carousel of fixed-term contracts is already underway in the healthcare, social welfare and early childhood education and care sectors. A chain of fixed-term contracts, meaning several consecutive fixed-term contracts for the same job, has been experienced by 75% of respondents. A third (33%) of respondents say they have experienced or witnessed pregnancy discrimination at work.
Uncertainty has a wide impact on the lives of the respondents. The survey shows how fixed-term employment contracts can lead to people postponing steps such as buying a home and having children.
– Tehy members already suffer from long chains of fixed-term contracts and uncertainty about their future employment. Our sector is also plagued by systematic pregnancy discrimination, where an employee's contract is not renewed if they become pregnant. The survey clearly shows that the government's proposed law change would push employees out of the healthcare and social welfare sector, which is already struggling to find enough skilled workers, says Tehy President Millariikka Rytkönen.
Fixed-term contracts are almost invariably desired by the employers, not the employees. Four-fifths (80%) of those employed on fixed-term contracts say they want a permanent contract. However, only a third (33%) of respondents have dared to ask their employer for a permanent contract. Similarly, only half (50%) of the respondents have dared to ask about the justification for their fixed-term contract.
A completely unnecessary change for the public sector
The government wants to change the law to allow fixed-term contracts for up to a year without any justification. The government has argued that employers will be more willing to take on an employee and that the change would lead to 'growth, improved employment rates and better central government finances'.
This simply does not work, especially in the public sector, and therefore the law should not be changed.
– We very much wonder what the government's justification is for changing the law and extending the change to the public sector. The change would only be to the detriment of the healthcare and social welfare sector. The wellbeing services counties can't hire more people than what the personnel costs in the budget allow. It's the money that counts, not the length of contracts, says Rytkönen.
The survey explored the experiences and views of Tehy members regarding fixed-term employment contracts. Tehy commissioned the survey in the summer of 2025. The comprehensive survey was carried out by Verian, and it received responses from 2,553 members of the trade union Tehy, mainly working in municipalities and wellbeing services counties. The survey was targeted at Tehy members who currently have or have previously had a fixed-term contract.
Enquiries: Jarkko Pehkonen, Leading Legal Counsel, interview requests [email protected], tel. +358 (0)40 531 5464
A PowerPoint presentation (in finnish) on the results of the survey is attached.
